(Photo by Bryan Bennett/Getty Images)
Steelers' defensive tackle Cameron Heyward was a handful for the Bills' offensive line to block on Sunday, as Heyward racked up four total tackles, a sack, a forced fumbled, a fumble recovery and two passes defended where he batted the ball at the line of scrimmage. Heyward also had a league-high 12 quarterback pressures, according Pro Football Focus.
For his impressive performance against Buffalo, Heyward received the highest graded among any player in Week 1 with a grade of 95.3.
According to PFF, the Steelers’ front as a whole generated 19 pressures, 11 of which came within 2.5 seconds of the snap against the Bills. And the Steelers got pressured Allen with predominately a four-man rush, which makes it even more impressive. NFL Next Gen Stats states that the Steelers blitzed Allen on just two of his 54 drop backs.
Watch Heyward bull-rush Bills' center Mitch Morse and get pressure on Allen on this third-and-8 play that resulted in an incompletion. Heyward did this throughout the game against Buffalo's offensive line. Simply just dominated. Heyward was not only the best player on the Steelers' defense on Sunday, but across the league. PFF was spot-on here.